With their conversation and food finished, Adrest and Alissa got up and walked under the glow of the magic lamps that lined the streets, giving everything a warm yellow glow. They walked back to Home and Hearth, both greeting Rose as they walked in and took a seat at the bar.
Rose greeted the interesting duo with a bright smile and brought two ales. Alissa had never tried anything other than wine in her etiquette classes, and was curious about what normal people drank. Adrest was also curious about the alcohol of this world.
They found the warm, slightly carbonated ale a little bitter, but refreshing in its own way and they had a few more mugs getting slightly rosy cheeks. The pair sat at the near empty bar chatting with Rose about what they had done throughout the day. From the outdoor markets to browsing food stalls, with Alissa showing off her new games excitedly and bragged about Adrest teaching her all of them later.
Rose was giggling at the rambunctious demi-human across from her, who was slightly drunk having a great night. Eventually, Adrest became less animated and described the noble they had seen abusing and berating a slave and the crest across the carriage.
Rose’s eyes widened in surprise on hearing the insignia, “Huh? The Randier merchant group?”
Adrest and Alissa perked up.
Rose explained, “They’re a fairly famous middling group of merchants in the Radagon Empire. They make most of their money on exotic slave trade and other questionable goods. If you say it was a rare species of Demi-human, I’d guess that they are being entered into the auction that is coming up in a about a week?”
“Auction?” Echoed Adrest and Alissa.
“Yes, every year the town of Forest's Edge holds an auction for all sorts of goods that can only be found in this forest and rarely seen treasures before they are brought back to the nearest city on the other side of the mountain range to be distributed through the rest of the country. You will see all sorts of different group’s representatives filtering in to participate in the auction soon, either to buy or sell.”
They both thanked Rose for the information and asked if they would be able to participate in the auction too. Adrest was relieved to hear that they would only need to pay an entry fee of twenty Gold Trevil. While this number would scare a normal family, who could live for a year off such an amount, it wasn’t much for Adrest, who could abuse the power of his lodestone to create more when needed.
The two friends and new acquaintance chatted in between Rose running to serve other customers, always making sure the pair had full glasses and were happy. Overall, it was a great night for Alissa and Adrest who had both drank far more than expected, getting lost in the friendly mood and warm atmosphere of the bar room.Adrest and Alissa eventually stumbled up the steps, Adrest had a hand on Alissa who was stumbling to support her. She was giggling and slurring through her plans to stay up all night with Adrest playing cards.
Her body had other plans though, as soon as Alissa got into their room, she sat on a chair at the table. As Adrest drunkenly shuffled the cards and tried his best to remember the rules to the game, he heard a hard thunk.
Looking up, he saw Alissa with her head lying on its side on the tabletop. Even sleeping she had a large grin on her rosy face, and Adrest was happy that he could give his first friend in this world a good memory.
With his eyes getting heavy in the low light of the inn room, Adrest pushed himself up and away from the table, taking a minute to get his balance before making his way over to the sleeping girl on the other side.
Gently, he shook Alissa’s shoulder trying to coax her into a bed, but no matter what he tried she wouldn’t budge. After a few more tries, he gave up and decided to go with the backup plan.
Taking a breath and sobering up for a moment, Adrest carefully picked the tired dragon up in his arms and slowly made his way over to her bed. Thankfully Alissa made his life easier by wrapping her arms around his chest as she slept, keeping a tight hold.
That also worked against Adrest as he spent quite a while getting the stuck girl off of him and comfortable in her own bed. Eventually Adrest had her sleeping on her and tucked in comfortably.
With a tried yawn, he blew out the candle and turned off the mana light on the wall, sinking the room into a comfortable grey for the demon. Adrest made his way to his bed, thinking about how much fun the day had been, and thankful to the dragon that was always making life more exciting.
Happy and warm, he fell asleep to the soothing quiet snore coming from Alissa that he had unknowingly become so used to in the last months.
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
The next morning Adrest awoke to a strange feeling. With his eyes still closed and barely conscious, he felt an odd warmth on a slightly numb right arm. There was also something tickling his nose lightly brushing against it, probably what had woken him up in the first place.
Confused, Adrest opened his eyes slowly to see just the barest rays of dawn filtering in through the window, and a mere few inches from his face was a sleeping beauty.
Alissa was fast asleep on his arm, with her nose nearly touching his cheek, purple hair everywhere and resting soundly. She still had a tiny grin and looked completely at peace.
Adrest just stared at the angelic face next to his, feeling completely at peace. He wished they could stay like this forever. While Adrest had never really given a relationship much thought as he had been so focused on survival, he had to admit Alissa was perfect. So much so that it had taken a weeks to get used to seeing such a flawless face up close every day. Even now, he was still entranced by the innocent, playful woman that rested next to him.
Enjoying the scene thoroughly and deciding to not question why she was in his bed after he remembered putting Alissa in her own last night. Adrest eventually, slowly, freed his arm from under Alissa’s head and carefully got up to avoid disturbing her as she was sure to be tired still. As he moved from the bed, she turned over to where he had been, and pulled the blankets closer to herself.
Creeping out of the room, and with a slight headache Adrest made his way downstairs to the bar room to see a yawning Rose making herself this world’s version of coffee behind the bar.
Seeing Adrest make his way over, Rose perked up and greeted him happily. Adrest was surprised to see her up so early, especially since they had stayed up with her fairly late into the night just yesterday.
“You’re up awful early Rose, did you get enough sleep last night, you worked the whole day yesterday too right?”
“I’m feeling great! After all, I’ve got to work hard if I want to succeed, right?” She replied cheerily and explained that while there were a few cooks and cleaners, to keep costs low, she is usually the only one to work the bar and reception.
“Huh, you’ve got it tough too, don’t you?”
Adrest said with new respect for the dedicated inn keeper, meanwhile she just laughed and offered him a cup of coffee and a breakfast tray, which was eggs, a large slice of brown bread and warm butter, along with a side of fresh vegetables. It Adrest accepted gratefully and felt the remnants of last night’s drinking go away in minutes.
Now full of energy, Adrest thanked Rose for the meal and asked about what kind of clothing shops were in town. Getting a few recommendations, he got a second breakfast platter to go, and made his way back to his room where he was not in the least surprised to see the dragon blissfully asleep, now having taken over his bed completely, yet again.
Going near the bed snatching dragon, he set the tray of food and mug of coffee down and knowingly waited for just a few moments before Alissa’s nose twitched slightly in her sleep, slowly cracking open her eyes and groaning slightly as she sat up in bed.
“Adrest? Ish breakfash ready? Ugh, my head.” Alissa groaned with her forehead in one hand.
Laughing at the suffering girl, he got up, handed her the mug, and told her to drink. She grabbed the drink and unquestioningly downed the hot beverage, drinking half of it before putting it down and scrunching her nose “Bitter…”
“Ha! Yeah, it takes some getting used to, but your head feels better right?”
“Oh, you’re right!”
Alissa sounded more energetic and more like her usual self. It also seemed that that was the moment she realized she wasn’t in her bed and seemed to remember last night.
Blushing and looking at the mug in her head she shyly said “Umm... sorry, I think I drank too much, I just remember how warm it was when you picked me up. I must’ve crawled over here…”
Barely able to finish, the embarrassed dragon was beet red and Adrest felt his own cheeks heat up slightly before rubbing his head saying, “Well, I can’t say it really bothered me, after all you have a cute sleeping face.”
Realizing what he had just accidentally said, Adrest panicked, and his face turned as red as the dragon’s, who might actually have steam coming from her ears after hearing that with her face hidden in her hands. It was too bad for Adrest, those hands blocked him from seeing the grin that had appeared after he said the word cute.
One slightly awkward meal later in their room, and they seemed to be back to normal, both deciding to write off last night. They headed downstairs and walked out, saying goodbye to Rose as they left and discussed the plans for the day. Neither saw the big grin on her face as she misunderstood the flushed, slightly blushing faces of the duo.
Adrest and Alissa wandered through the streets, slowly making their way to a clothing store that Rose had recommended for formal and semi formal wear, something the two needed to fit in at the auction house.
An employee, a woman who seemed to be in her thirties and had long, slender ears and green hair helped them. As it turned out, it was an eleven-owned establishment, using materials unique to the forests they guard and inhabit. They employed nearly exclusively demi-humans of all creeds to give them more opportunities for employment.
The store was called Leaf of the Great Tree, and the woman who greeted them was named Mure. She was soft spoken and respectful to the pair as they asked for help and recommendations from the elf.
The two bought many items, from causal silk buttoned shirts and slacks for Adrest and causal dresses in different colors for Alissa, to formal gowns and custom fit suits for the soon to be auction.
Today’s shopping had been quite expensive as the store had carried high quality items at an equivalent price. They were almost out of money but they’d already planned to make a quick return trip to the camp that night anyway so they could get more. In the late of night when all the townsfolk were asleep, the pair quietly opened their window on the second floor of the inn and flew into the dark cloudy night.
In just a few hours, Adrest and Alissa made it home and offloaded everything they had picked up in the last few days. While he was there, Adrest spent all but a few thousand (lp) and exchanged them for slightly more than 10,000 gold Trevil, wanting to be as prepared as possible. With their two packs loaded with gold, they made their way back to the town just before the sun started to rise and sneaked back to their room, everyone none the wiser.